One More Loss For Saddest Nba Season Ever

REINHARD

Larry Miller was, without question, the greatest high school basketball player I ever saw. He made every trip to the tiny Lincoln Gym in Catasauqua something special.

A Rough Rider victory was a no-brainer on that court, but the thing that made every night worthwhile was the anticipation that Miller might do something he had never done before.

He was listed at 6-foot-4 in his senior season. I don't know whether he was really that tall. It didn't matter.

If a rebound was to be had, he had it. If a shot needed to be made, he made it. If a fullcourt press needed to be broken, he broke it. If an opposing player needed to be stopped, Miller stopped him. If he had to carry the entire team on his back, he did it.

Miller made a lot of excellent basketball players look pretty foolish sometimes. He had the knack to turn it on at will, and he had a will that was not easily overcome.

Catasauqua won Lehigh Valley League and District 11 championships during Miller's career. Eventually, though, the Rough Riders always encountered some team that was just a little too much, even for Larry.

Miller was a man among boys. But that was only in high school.

Michael Jordan did the things that Larry Miller did, but No. 23 did them not to the best high school players in one region, but to the best professional basketball players in the world.

Jordan was not the No. 1 player picked in the NBA draft when he came out of the University of North Carolina. Hakeem Olajuwon was. Jordan wasn't No. 2, either; Sam Bowie was.

Jack Ramsey says his team was in such dire need of a center that he just had to take Bowie instead of Jordan. Besides, who could know what a special player Jordan was to become. After all, he had averaged less than 18 points a game during his three varsity years with the Tar Heels.

It didn't take long, however, for professional basketball teams to learn that the way the kid performed in college was only the coming attractions. The feature presentation would be played out in arenas across the country.

And, unlike even the best feature film, which sooner or later loses its grip on the industry, Jordan got bigger and bigger until he soon became almost larger than the game itself. It was OK to not like pro basketball but be a Michael Jordan fan.

Pro basketball has a long list of greatest-ever players, from the days of Paul Arizin to Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson ... Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Abdul-Jabbar played longer and scored more points; Wilt was a better rebounder; Magic was a better passer; Russell played better defense. None of them had the Michael Jordan package, however; and it's very likely none of them had the sheer determination to win that brought Jordan to the place where he would receive a contract for $33 million a year.

The Boston Celtics may still have had the greatest collection of talent during their dominant period; but the Chicago Bulls, with Jordan doing whatever it took, made even the old-timers wonder who might have won a game between the two teams.

When the NBA struggled for a television audience, Jordan brought the league into the limelight. He was not just a scoring machine; he never seemed to make too much of himself. He was captivating. He always had just enough little boy in him to please the masses. He was marketable -- big time.

Now there will be no more Michael Jordan. At a time when pro basketball could use him the most, he's bowing out. Surely, he has nothing left to prove. Surely, he will be missed -- at least for awhile. The Plays of the Week won't be the same without some patented Jordan heroics.

I didn't think this is how it would end; but maybe it's fitting that the saddest NBA season ever should suffer one more loss.